Short Story "Desert Blood" Part 1

The Taharian Desert was hot and so Daved sweated as he sat in the small tavern. He wore a sandblasted hood and robe that went to his sandaled feet. He suspected the clothes he wore were once a dark brown but the years from the sun, heat and sand had faded the robe into a cream tan color that reflected the very surroundings he was currently in. Or maybe not the years but the days, things in the Tahari had a habit of fading into nothing; it was just the way of this place. He looked up a moment from the tea that was cooling out in front of him at the low table in the shady tavern and out onto the street, if you could call it that. No one here walked quickly on the dusty, sandy street, no one here wasted idle conversation with each other. The name of the game here was to conserve as much energy, drink as much water and to stay out of the sun for as long as possible. He could appreciate the sentiment and even to a degree he could relate to it.

He sighed as he looked at the small square houses and tavern that framed the settlement of Kath. The settlement was nothing like the city of Tor, this was as bare bones as you get with a place that was plopped down in the middle of the waste lands of the desert. It took him three months to finally arrive here, all the way from the plains lands of the north as he made the slow trek that turned the lands from a grassy area full of life to this moon-like landscape where water was as precious as the gold coins he had in his belt pockets.

Tor was paradise compared to Kath, Kath was a cesspool of the lowest forms of life to have ever existed in these cursed lands, but it was exactly the very place his prey came to live to escape the justice of his caste.

He lifted his tea and took a sip while waving his free hand at the flies that hovered over the dates that sat on a plate. He took a sip and then returned the cup to the table as his “guide” walked in the tavern. The young man was similarly dressed as Daved but a foot shorter and of a much darker skin than Daved. He was young; the desert hadn’t sapped all the energy that youth bestowed him. He saw Daved and smiled showing perfect white teeth as he walked quickly to the table. Sitting down he said “I found an inn that faces the north so it will be cool most of the day.” Daved grimaced as he heard this and said “Jareth, did I ever tell you that you have a strange definition of what is “cool?” Jareth shrugged and said “you are going to thank me in the next few moments.” Daved looked back quizzically as Jareth said with a grin “it has a bath as well.” Daved nodded with a smile and said “Jareth, I believe you just earned your bonus for the day.”

They walked toward the inn with Jareth leading the way. Daved found the young man in Tor, at first Daved thought he was no different from the other beggars that littered the streets of Tor but this one wasn’t begging, he was selling. “I sell maps” he explained under the hot sun on the busy street. Aye maps were another expensive commodity in the desert were the least time you spent out in the expanse, the better the chance you have of surviving. Daved was tempted to buy a map but he was warned long before he set out on this trek that map vendors were not to be trusted in the Tahari, didn’t the saying go that “It is better to trust a thief in the night than the man that sells you a map by day?” Daved told Jareth that he wasn’t interested in buying a map that he was more interested in obtaining a guide. Jareth smiled wide and said for the right price he would be that guide. Daved was dubious the first few days as they rode through the desert but the young man knew his way. What’s more he also taught Daved the customs of the land, the ways to survive in this hellish landscape and even the fable of how this all came about.

One chilly night as they sat around a campfire Jareth told Daved that the Tahari was once a sea “as large and as perilous as the Thassa” but the sea was consumed by fire from the dragons. “Giant winged serpents that breathed fire” Jareth explained and Daved nodded because he remembered his own father had told him of these mythical creatures when he was a boy. “The gods wiped these creatures out for fear they would set the whole world ablaze but the Tahari was lost to be the desert wastes you see today.”

Jareth earned his pay which was considerable but it was all part of the ruse that Daved wanted to make. Before they arrived at the inn Daved asked Jareth about the wagon carts. Jareth nodded and said he had hired two bodyguards to watch over them. Daved grimaced a bit when he found out just how much they were paid but remained silent; still he had to wonder if this was all costing too much to be worth it.

Later that night Daved stood atop the balcony from his rooms and sighed with some relief now that the air was now becoming cooler. Such a relief to see the sun was going down and with it all the heat of the day. Tomorrow he would continue the ruse until his mark took notice of him. This was not going to be an easy kill, it was never easy when your mark was of the same caste you were. This man he was sent to kill was one of the best there was, or was the best there was until he forsake everything he swore an oath to. If his mark knew that he was a Killer sent for him then the job would be that much more difficult to execute. He took one last look at the desert that was growing darker and colder by the minute and then turned and went into his room; the heat would greet him in the morning, despite what Jareth said about the cool air from the North.